MTSU gets ahead and stays ahead. Its comfortable lead balloons into an insurmountable one as the game clock ticks away until only a minute or two remains. At Murphy Center, this isn’t garbage time or closing time or time to call it a night.

It’s Miller time.

Chaser Miller heard that phrase chanted again Thursday night, when MTSU’s student section clamored for the sophomore walk-on to be inserted into the Blue Raiders’ game against UTSA.

One fan waved an enlarged cardboard cutout of Miller’s face. Another held a sign for Miller and wore a No. 14 jersey to match. All the while, the chant only got louder:

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On the bench, Miller smiled. Teammate James Hawthorne clapped him on the back. Then with 1:54 left and MTSU leading 75-45, it happened: coach Kermit Davis gave the signal for Miller to check in, prompting the type of celebration you simply don’t expect with one team leading by 30 points late in a game.

“It's something I never would have anticipated when I came here,” Miller said, “but I’m really thankful for it.”

Will Miller finally score his first basket? That question — along with Davis’ willingness to give Miller a chance — has helped turned the 6-foot, 185-pound guard into something of a Murphy Center sensation.

Unflappable persistence

Hamilton first got wind of the Dallas native through one of his former coaches, who sent him some clips of Miller in action to go along with a strong recommendation.

“Wasn't anything that necessarily caught my eye,” Hamilton said, but then Miller reached out to the MTSU assistant personally. Hamilton responded as a courtesy — “I try to do it with every kid that does it” — and told the persistent Shelton High senior to email him again in a few months, toward the end of the season.

So Miller was given an opportunity, though make no mistake: He was no slouch in high school. He averaged 20.5 points, five rebounds and 4.5 assists his senior year.

“I had some smaller offers at Division II and Division III schools, like real close to home in Dallas I could have gone to,” Miller said. “I could have walked on at several other Division I schools, but obviously I wanted to come here.

“When I visited, this to me kind of had the feel of an SEC school. The fan base, the history, and I think when I got to know the coaches, some of the best people around, it made it a pretty easy decision.”

So was the decision to be a walk-on — that is, when Miller stepped back and considered what it would do for him in the long run.

“It was how walking on was going to help me throughout life,” Miller said. “Ever since I've been here, it's never been about me or how many points I'm ever going to score. It's always kind of about the team, how much we're winning, the memories we're all sharing together.”

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MTSU student Darion Campbell shows off his Chase Miller sign and jersey after MTSU's game against UTSA at Murphy Center on Jan. 25, 2018.(Photo: Erik Bacharach/DNJ)

‘The perfect walk-on’

Davis has had the walk-on conversation with players dozens of times. He tells them all the same thing: that they may never play, that they’ll be treated just like every other player on the roster, that maybe they’ll become a wild success story — but probably not.

“No telling how many said, ‘Yes, I understand,’ and then they couldn't do it,” Davis said. “They wanted to play. It didn't make them bad guys, but I have only had two walk-ons go start to finish with me in 16 years (Zane and Gavin Gibson).

Davis will be the first to tell you: Miller has everything required to go the distance.

“Chase is the perfect walk-on,” he said. “He’s vocal in the gym every day. First guy in the gym. He has done unbelievable things in our community. He has joined a fraternity, which I think is terrific for him. It’s amazing how he has networked. He’s connected with everybody. He just goes and cold calls guys in Nashville. He has talked to cats that are real players in that market in Nashville.”

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MTSU fans cheer as Chase Miller enters the game against Western Kentucky at WKU, on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017.(Photo: HELEN COMER/DNJ)

Davis even sees some of himself in Miller, who is a finance major and a member of Kappa Sigma.

“I had his same role in college except I was on scholarship at Mississippi State,” Davis said. “I didn't get in too many games, and I know how hard that is. But I knew exactly what I wanted to be. I wanted to be a coach. I tried to network and do all the things Chase did, except in a different field.

“He's so much better in practice than he was when he got here. He can go right into these practices and competitive five-on-five games and run stuff. We put him in a game, he'll do fine."

The moment everyone is waiting for

Miller has been put into a game 14 times in his first two seasons and has done fine in his average of 1.4 minutes. He just hasn’t scored a point yet.

0 for 5.

When it finally happens, “that place is going to erupt,” said Isaac Esgro, an MTSU senior and president of Kappa Sigma. “It’s going to be like we won the Super Bowl.”

MTSU guard Chase Miller grabs a rebound in practice before the Blue Raiders' game against Minnesota in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 16, 2017.(Photo: Milwaukee, Wis.)

MTSU senior guard Ed Simpson joked that he’s even a little concerned.

“We might get a tech because everybody’s going to be running off the bench,” he said, laughing. “I think it’ll really be a special moment because we know how hard he works. Whenever you see him get in a game, it just gives you that really good feeling.”

By all accounts, Miller is one of the hardest workers during practice. His mindset? “Get the guys ready for the next opponent.” And watch him on the bench during a game: He stands and claps for his teammates at every possible opportunity.

In that way, he's "endeared himself to the other students, to the fans," Hamilton said.

Miller embraces the role of fan favorite, just as he has the role of walk-on.

He recalled a moment last year when he went out to eat with Reggie Upshaw, one of the team’s stars who is now playing pro ball in Germany.

“People come up to him, obviously, because he's the best player on the team,” Miller said. “But they'd come up to me, too, and that was cool. It's been awesome.”

As for scoring his first point, Miller has a bit of different mindset about it than everyone else.

“I think about it sometimes. It’ll be a rewarding feeling, I think,” he said. “But it's never been about that. If we keep winning, it's more about that to me. Honestly, that’s all that really matters to me.”